Fake Salvation Army bell ringer steals donations in Painesville Township

Authorities are searching for a man who allegedly posed as a Salvation Army bell ringer during the weekend and then made off with the donations in Painesville Township. On Saturday afternoon, a man approached children volunteering on behalf of 4-H who were ringing the bell and said he was their relief, said Lake County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Frank Leonbruno. The volunteers told him they were scheduled to ring until 4 p.m. The man stayed in the Giant Eagle on Mentor Avenue until 4 p.m. and then took over the kettle, Leonbruno said. ‘I felt so bad for them,’ said Maj. Robert Bender of the Salvation Army Painesville Division. ‘These kids rang for us all day.’ Shortly after the suspect began posing as the bell ringer, Bender came to the location to check on how the day was progressing. The man was wearing the Salvation Army apron and a donation was even made while Bender was there. The suspect also told Bender he was with 4-H and had answers for all of Bender’s questions. ‘This guy told me all the right things,’ he said. A few minutes after Bender left, the real volunteer who was supposed to begin a shift at 4 p.m. arrived and saw the man leaving the store with the kettle. The suspect told the new volunteer he had to step out for a moment but that he had the major’s cell phone number. ‘And boom, that was it. Gone,’ Bender said. The white man, who was wearing a cowboy hat and a tan jacket, was described as being 40- to 50-years-old and standing about 5-feet-9-inches tall. He appeared to leave the scene in a blue four-door Buick style car, said Leonbruno. Bender said he plans to install new hardware on the kettles to make it more difficult to remove the kettles from the tripod stands. ‘I don’t want to lose that Christmas giving spirit,’ he said. ‘If I quit trusting in people, I might as well not do what I do.’ Some witnesses told authorities that they have seen a similarly dressed man in the area before. Anyone who may know the man or has seen him in the area recently is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office by email at

sheriffwebmaster@lakecountyohio.org

or by phone at 440-350-5500.